C.B. Strike

Trailer: rb.gy/30b01c

This series gets better and better.

I've never read a complete sentence of "Harry Potter." And although I knew J.K. Rowling wrote genre books under a pseudonym, the reason I watched this series was because it had great RottenTomatoes ratings, 83/93. And you know those exceed my threshold.

Now "C.B. Strike," or just "Strike" if you're in the U.K., is not new. It premiered on Cinemax back in 2018, and I even get that channel, I might have heard the name, but I guess I've become suspicious of pay cable, and I refuse to watch anything week by week.

But doing research I came across "C.B. Strike," which is now on Max, and I'm glad I did.

Cormoran Strike is the son of a famous musician and a supergroupie. He dropped out of Oxbridge to go to war, wherein he got half his leg blown off, and after returning and experiencing an up and down relationship with a pedigreed woman, he breaks free and dedicates all his energy to his P.I. business.

As for Robin... She just takes a job working in Strike's office as a temp, but she's got a feel for it, and she wants to stick with it, even though the pay is sh*t.

Now Robin is engaged to a putz playing the traditional game. He's slick and monied, but controlling. And I guess this all comes down to whether you follow your dream or do what is expected of you or just follow the money. "C.B. Strike" is a great advertisement for following your passion.

So there are multiple seasons of "C.B. Strike" and if you look them up online or see them in your Max app, they're different.

Let's just stay with the Max app.

The first season, shot in 2018, is seven episodes long and is three different stories, corresponding to three different J.K. Rowling/Robert Galbraith books.

And what you find in the first seven episodes is that the stories are wrapped up pretty quickly, faster than you'd want them to be. Cormoran will have a brain fart, and voila!, he figures it all out.

But the second and third seasons, each made up of four episodes covering a single story each, are superior.

This is one of the few series that gets better as it goes along.

If you watch something with multiple seasons...if you like the first set of episodes, hang in there, oftentimes there's a learning process and the producers self-correct the next time around.

Really, the third season is excellent. It does have a bit too much explanation as opposed to action at the end, but you're intrigued the whole time.

Now the suspects in these cases change. But you don't feel ripped-off by dead ends, and it's not a complete twist who did it, you can understand it. But you're guessing, and you enjoy it.

But the best part of the series is the two leads, Tom Burke as Cormoran Blue Strike and Holliday Grainger as Robin Venetia Ellacott.

Burke/Strike almost never raises his voice. It's not that he's not intense, it's not that he doesn't care, but he speaks softly and it's so affecting. We're used to bombastic leads. With thousand watt personalities. That is not Burke/Strike.

As for Robin... Sure, she's beautiful, but to a great degree she plays against type. She's willing to get her hands dirty, to go for it.

And of course there's sexual tension. Will they or won't they. I'll let you watch the series and find out for yourself.

Also, "C.B. Strike" is set in an autumn-like U.K. that generates a vibe in the viewer, that adds gravitas. And when you see the modern people against the old buildings... It shows how everybody is just passing through.

Yes, "C.B. Strike" is entertainment. But truly, it's a cut above. I don't want to say it's the best series I've ever seen, but like Cliff said, I'm down to seeds and stems.

And if you've watched the greats, like "The Bureau," never mind "Spiral," " A French Village," "Borgen" and "Happy Valley," you should check out "C.B. Strike."

Once again, stick with it, it gets better.

Unlike the horrific Max app which qualifies as a beta under Silicon Valley standards. How can Zaslav make all that money while he runs the company into the ground? It's offensive, but ain't that America, and you and me have no power.

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